Monday, November 9, 2009
Peru!
Someone from Peru looked at my blog. Is that strange that I am excited about that? I'm kind of obsessively looking at my new flag counter on my blog. It makes me feel all multinational and therefore cool. Yes I do have a life. I promise.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
New look, same old blog
So today I attempted to reformat my blog. I have never learned how to use HTML so I am using a template. If you think it looks ugly, or have suggestions for me please tell me. I could have spent probably a lot more time messing around with it, but I wanted to update before I headed to bed.
Katherine visited me last week, and we had good times. It was great to catch up with her. It was weird to think we hadn't seen each other since she waved goodbye at the Freiburg train station three years ago. We adventured quite a bit, and I will have to steal Katherine's pictures since I didn't bring my camera.
Highlights:
Eating a three course meal of pumpkin soup, Käsknodle (baked cheese dumplings) with pumpkin sauerkraut, and finished off with Topfenknodle....I don't know how to translate that. Topfen is the Austrian word for quark which is like ricotta cheese ish. So a sweet ricotta cheese ball thing filled with apricot rolled in bread crumbs. Hmm... maybe food writer isn't in my future. Damn, cause I really do like to eat food, and getting paid to do it would be sweet.
Taking a short digesting walk, that was up to the castle which is a very small mountain or steep hill, and ended at Augistiner Brau one of the local brewery.
Heading to Bad Ischl, and despite the top of the mountain being encased in a cloud taking the cable car up to the top of Katrina. We couldn't see anything, which makes it quite a bit scarier when you have steep cliffs on either side of us that disappear into gray. Some how Katherine and I have a history of hiking in snow in sneakers and (knock on wood) not dying. (Yes I did really knock on wood)
Cake in Zauner cafe.
Spending three days in Vienna with Amanda, Alison, and Angela.
Turkish food in Vienna.
Doing a scavenger hunt made by Alison and Amanda in Vienna's cemetery. Teaching one of the other TAs Hummer, the word for Lobster.
Dressing up as Your Mom, going bowling and our group being one of the only guest who didn't know the bar staff at a Halloween bar.
Breakfast/lunch that cost 5 euros with coffee and filled me up with much yumminess.
Cake in the cafe at Hunderwasser Haus. Trying to understand the many different types of coffee.
Convincing Angela to stay an extra night so that we could watch The Cutting Edge.
Katherine and I cooking a tomato sauce with peas. It was yummy.
The next morning Katherine and I split ways. She headed to Bratislava and I headed home. Angela and I caught the same train, and I got to play some cards.
Then I had overall a good week of teaching. I did struggle some with a lesson about British English vs. American English. For me accents and dialects are connected with stereotypes, but this idea didn't fly with my students. I got a lot of blank stares. Side note watch Amy Walker 21 accents, and use the skit “who's on first” from Abbott and Costello.
Friday night I got to meet some more of the Salzburger Couch Surfers. It was quite fun.
Saturday night I had frozen pizza for dinner and then headed to a costume party. I felt like a college student, minus the going to class/studying etc. The theme of the party was go as what you wanted to be when you grew up. I couldn't remember what I wanted to be when I grew up. I am pretty sure I didn't want to grow up, and well at 24 still don't know what I want to be. Hmm.... So I decided to be a surfer/kayaker/rafter/water rat/beach bum. Sorry yet again no picture. I just wore my rafting clothes, a wood bead necklace, shell earrings, my towel around my neck, was bear foot, (the Germans/Austrians worried that I was going to catch a cold. They always wear slippers inside). and talked...you know...slow... with lots of hand gestures...dude you have to...experience the world....and be calm dude...and don't let things get to you, man.... I was very proud of myself that I could pull this off in German. I am fluent enough to imitate a surfer.
Today I slept in, cleaned, enjoyed not being in college and having to study, and generally took the day off. For next week I don't have much that I need to prep. Life is treating me pretty good...dude...
As always an overlong post, and I'm proud of you if you made it through it.
Katherine visited me last week, and we had good times. It was great to catch up with her. It was weird to think we hadn't seen each other since she waved goodbye at the Freiburg train station three years ago. We adventured quite a bit, and I will have to steal Katherine's pictures since I didn't bring my camera.
Highlights:
Eating a three course meal of pumpkin soup, Käsknodle (baked cheese dumplings) with pumpkin sauerkraut, and finished off with Topfenknodle....I don't know how to translate that. Topfen is the Austrian word for quark which is like ricotta cheese ish. So a sweet ricotta cheese ball thing filled with apricot rolled in bread crumbs. Hmm... maybe food writer isn't in my future. Damn, cause I really do like to eat food, and getting paid to do it would be sweet.
Taking a short digesting walk, that was up to the castle which is a very small mountain or steep hill, and ended at Augistiner Brau one of the local brewery.
Heading to Bad Ischl, and despite the top of the mountain being encased in a cloud taking the cable car up to the top of Katrina. We couldn't see anything, which makes it quite a bit scarier when you have steep cliffs on either side of us that disappear into gray. Some how Katherine and I have a history of hiking in snow in sneakers and (knock on wood) not dying. (Yes I did really knock on wood)
Cake in Zauner cafe.
Spending three days in Vienna with Amanda, Alison, and Angela.
Turkish food in Vienna.
Doing a scavenger hunt made by Alison and Amanda in Vienna's cemetery. Teaching one of the other TAs Hummer, the word for Lobster.
Dressing up as Your Mom, going bowling and our group being one of the only guest who didn't know the bar staff at a Halloween bar.
Breakfast/lunch that cost 5 euros with coffee and filled me up with much yumminess.
Cake in the cafe at Hunderwasser Haus. Trying to understand the many different types of coffee.
Convincing Angela to stay an extra night so that we could watch The Cutting Edge.
Katherine and I cooking a tomato sauce with peas. It was yummy.
The next morning Katherine and I split ways. She headed to Bratislava and I headed home. Angela and I caught the same train, and I got to play some cards.
Then I had overall a good week of teaching. I did struggle some with a lesson about British English vs. American English. For me accents and dialects are connected with stereotypes, but this idea didn't fly with my students. I got a lot of blank stares. Side note watch Amy Walker 21 accents, and use the skit “who's on first” from Abbott and Costello.
Friday night I got to meet some more of the Salzburger Couch Surfers. It was quite fun.
Saturday night I had frozen pizza for dinner and then headed to a costume party. I felt like a college student, minus the going to class/studying etc. The theme of the party was go as what you wanted to be when you grew up. I couldn't remember what I wanted to be when I grew up. I am pretty sure I didn't want to grow up, and well at 24 still don't know what I want to be. Hmm.... So I decided to be a surfer/kayaker/rafter/water rat/beach bum. Sorry yet again no picture. I just wore my rafting clothes, a wood bead necklace, shell earrings, my towel around my neck, was bear foot, (the Germans/Austrians worried that I was going to catch a cold. They always wear slippers inside). and talked...you know...slow... with lots of hand gestures...dude you have to...experience the world....and be calm dude...and don't let things get to you, man.... I was very proud of myself that I could pull this off in German. I am fluent enough to imitate a surfer.
Today I slept in, cleaned, enjoyed not being in college and having to study, and generally took the day off. For next week I don't have much that I need to prep. Life is treating me pretty good...dude...
As always an overlong post, and I'm proud of you if you made it through it.
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